Monthly Archives: February 2015

When I asked the I Ching now about 2015, it answered with hexagram 47, K’un / Oppression (Exhaustion). This, for me, seemed to sum up the situation that most of us are living in today.

There seems to be a very powerful whirlpool sucking all time and money down a fat drainpipe somewhere. Someone may accuse me of leaning towards conspiracy theories, but what I’m referring to is in fact quickly becoming common knowledge (see my recent Facebook post below).

This overwhelming lack of benevolence from the top down (in our society, quite different than the spiritual system inherent inside of us!*) seems to have penetrated our very cells and psyche. Physics shows clearly that everything is energy.

There’s a province here in Austria that was long ruled by the nazi-leaning party, and driving through it always brought on a headache. After they lost control of that area, the atmosphere became much lighter. Benevolence attracts benevolence, malevolence attracts malevolence. Simple law of nature.

I met a woman who spent Her life tirelessly dedicated to uplifting the hearts and minds of generations of human beings. One easily got the impression that She was surrounded by peace-giving angels and soothing light. Another time I worked on the set of a Hollywood production about Hitler here in Vienna. It was a realistic World War II setting, a hall packed with two hundred SS officers, in which I was dressed as one of them (the agency paid me 50 schillings extra for allowing them to shave my blond hair down to a formal military cut). Although I found it all quite amusing, I physically felt like vomiting the whole time. Afterwards, the poor chap portraying Hitler, eyes popping out of his face like one possessed, stabbed his elbow into my chest as he passed me (probably didn’t like my sweetness and light). It didn’t hurt much, although I felt a distinct pang of sympathy for him. This was all make-believe, but the appropriate negative vibrations had been collected for the show. (Not really of much significance here, but when the 200 nazi officers’ voices and right hands rose up violently to salute Der Fuhrer on the podium, I shouted ‘God save the Queen’ instead of ‘Heil Hilter’ … and what’s more, lived to talk about it!)

My wife and I have been creating and selling art for over a quarter century. In that time we’ve witnessed the tragic decline in buying-power of the common person. Most people are more stressed and worried about survival, and less able to enjoy life and many of it’s simple pleasures, like beauty. Even in Harrods in downtown London the other day, the longtime salesperson in the exquisite Italian porcelain department told us that normal people don’t make purchases there anymore (back in the nineties, we used to buy some of those items directly from the manufacturer near Milan, they were lovely people, for our Vienna shop) — the staff have to wait now for the occasional wealthy patron to come through and support this dying craft. Most small, family-owned shops have disappeared in the cities, replaced by mega-stores. Long ago, simple farmers were the wealthiest citizens. Now, with our casino-economy, the sophisticated gamblers and their political minions seem to be the only winners. We can’t even send a large package overseas without it getting sidelined and delayed (or even lost, as in the current case of a Ganesha statue by my wife, supposed to be on it’s way to the USA) because in the machine of corporate miserliness, every cent is being counted and ever-more drastic measures mechanically taken to increase profit at any cost.

An old friend of ours works at an Austrian bank. She tells that everyone there is stressed to the limit due to pressure from the top to bring money in: suck in new clients, sell old clients ‘products‘ they don’t need, anything to keep the company from going belly up. They’re struggling to keep their jobs by offering illusions to gullible people in the form of impressive products. A great writer once said, Try explaining insurance to a child.

Quality is fast fading from daily life in modern society, and dissatisfaction grows everywhere like an inescapable fungus….

Did I say inescapable? Actually, according to my experience, everything happens for a reason. If we are ruled by superficial, antibiotic forces, it’s because we have attracted that tendency in our own attitudes. After a furious world war, there comes international brotherhood, hope and kindness. What will come after we get absolutely fed up with speed and shallow attractions and more, more, more? There’s a growing thirst for deep, nurturing realness. This will come — indeed, is coming — from within, and it’s collective manifestations will be historically breathtaking.

The I Ching explained that times of difficulty force a person of higher integrity to become more cheerful, and in so doing, able to bend and improve to overcome life’s hardest obstacles. Also, that in the spine of each person resides the energy (the same thing that C.G. Jung referred to as ‘kundalini’, and is in fact a completely benevolent, motherly power) that can lift us beyond disturbance, into the state of equilibrium and rejuvenating stillness. It’s the right and duty of each individual on this planet to reach inside and discover the personal empowering treasure waiting there.

I’ve experienced pretty much the worst and best in life (utter despair leading to the cliff of suicide; and simple, shining, healing holiness in children and Mother Nature that uplifts beyond description) and nothing can be more crystal clear than the fact that it’s up to you/me to manifest the unlimited goodness available from our real nature. It’s an easy matter of tapping into that abundant asset. Achieving this individually and together will be the dawn of change that will scatter all the shadows of corruption. It’s already happening.

Comment from an Indian citizen, about the AAP being voted in by the corruption-weary population of Delhi (even before hearing the facts about the international Swiss banking scandal) :

“These are State Assembly Elections of Delhi, our capital city. I live in Mumbai which is in Maharashtra, so I could not vote here. Actually, our PM Modi made it a personal battle and stooped so low in his rally speeches to make personal attacks on AAP’s leaders , especially on Arvind Kejriwal, that I feel he put the last nail in the coffin of BJP. BJP’s electoral campaign was based on personality attacks and total negativity, whereas AAP’s campaign was positive, issue based, and they had a 70 point agenda and blueprint for the city. Ultimately, people used their discrimination to see through fraud and facade and give their complete mandate to those who had integrity and honesty on their side.”

(This trend is apparent in other parts of the world as well, indicated, for example, by the increase in supporters for the Green Party in various countries, who want to put power over wellbeing back into the hands and voices of the people.)

And here’s an official banking outlook stated already almost a decade ago, showing complete lack of disinterest in benefiting the common man, woman and child:

>Here are some quotations about the strategies of the super rich (in this case, Citibank) already from 2006 and 2007 when they were still a bit more open. There is a most dangerous “revolution” of the arrogant rich threatening the whole world. (The TTIP is a real danger.)

>Oct 16, 2005
– The World is dividing into two blocs – the Plutonomy and the rest. The U.S., UK, and Canada are the key Plutonomies – economies powered by the wealthy. Continental Europe (ex-Italy) and Japan are in the egalitarian bloc.
– Equity risk premium embedded in “global imbalances” are unwarranted. In plutonomies the rich absorb a disproportionate chunk of the economy and have a massive impact on reported aggregate numbers like savings rates, current account deficits, consumption levels, etc.
This imbalance in inequality expresses itself in the standard scary “global imbalances”. We worry less.
– There is no “average consumer” in a Plutonomy.
[…]
Indeed, traditional thinking is likely to have issues with most of it. We will posit that:
the world is dividing into two blocs – the plutonomies, where economic growth is powered by and largely consumed by the wealthy few, and the rest.
Plutonomies have occurred before in sixteenth century Spain, in seventeenth century Holland, the Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties in the U.S.
What are the common drivers of Plutonomy?
Disruptive technology-driven productivity gains,
creative financial innovation,
capitalist-friendly cooperative governments,
an international dimension of immigrants and
overseas conquests invigorating wealth creation,
the rule of law, and
patenting inventions.
Often these wealth waves involve great complexity, exploited best by the rich and educated of the time.
We project that the plutonomies (the U.S., UK, and Canada) will likely see even more income inequality, disproportionately feeding off a further rise in the profit share in their economies, capitalist-friendly governments, more technology-driven productivity, and globalization.
[…]
In a plutonomy there is no such animal as “the U.S. consumer” or “the UK consumer”, or indeed the “Russian consumer”.
There are rich consumers, few in number, but disproportionate in the gigantic slice of income and consumption they take. There are the rest, the “non-rich”, the multitudinous many, but only accounting for surprisingly small bites of the national pie. […] i.e., focus on the “average” consumer are flawed from the start.”

“Citigroup Plutonomy Report Part 2
Mar 5 2006
RISKS — WHAT COULD GO WRONG?
Our whole plutonomy thesis is based on the idea that the rich will keep getting richer. This thesis is not without its risks. For example, a policy error leading to asset deflation, would likely damage plutonomy. Furthermore, the rising wealth gap between the rich and poor will probably at some point lead to a political backlash. Whilst the rich are getting a greater share of the wealth, and the poor a lesser share, political enfranchisement remains as was — one person, one vote (in the plutonomies). At some point it is likely that labor will fight back against the rising profit share of the rich and there will be a political backlash against the rising wealth of the rich. This could be felt through higher taxation on the rich (or indirectly though higher corporate taxes/regulation) or through trying to protect indigenous [home-grown] laborers, in a push-back on globalization — either anti-immigration, or protectionism. We don’t see this happening yet, though there are signs of rising political tensions. However we are keeping a close eye on developments.”
“Plutonomics
By Robert Frank, Wall Street Journal – Jan 8, 2007
It’s well known that the rich have an outsized influence on the economy.
The nation’s top 1% of households own more than half the nation’s stocks, according to the Federal Reserve. They also control more than $16 trillion in wealth — more than the bottom 90%.
Yet a new body of research from Citigroup suggests that the rich have other, more-surprising impacts on the economy.
[…]
“The Plutonomy is here, is going to get stronger, its membership swelling” he wrote in one research note. “Toys for the wealthy have pricing power, and staying power.”
[…]
Of course, Kapur says there are risks to the Plutonomy, including war, inflation, financial crises, the end of the technological revolution and populist political pressure. Yet he maintains that the “the rich are likely to keep getting even richer, and enjoy an even greater share of the wealth pie over the coming years.”
All of which means that, like it or not, inequality isn’t going away and may become even more pronounced in the coming years. The best way for companies and businesspeople to survive in Plutonomies, Kapur implies, is to disregard the “mass” consumer and focus on the increasingly rich market of the rich.
A tough message — but one worth considering.”

‘Names listed over black money same as AAP had revealed, party stands vindicated: Kejriwal

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that the party stood vindicated as the names it had revealed in connection with black money earlier is present in the HSBC bank’s Geneva branch list naming 60 Indians and entities involved.’

Minnesota’s Governor raised the minimum wage, signed an equal pay act, and raised taxes on the rich to fund K-12 schools and higher education. Minnesota now has the 5th highest job growth in the nation and median income is $8,000 higher than the national average. By contrast, Governor Walker in the neighboring state of Wisconsin did the opposite: he gave the rich $2.1 billion in tax breaks, busted unions, and cut school funding more than any governor. Wisconsin now ranks 37th for job growth, median income is $800 below the national average, and the budget deficit is so large Walker has stopped making payments. Share this for every conservative who says raising taxes on the rich will destroy the economy. Cure them of their ignorance.